The invention relates to a process of coating a plastic or high pressure laminated substrate with a radiation-cured sublimatable coating and more particularly relates to a process which provides a plastic or high pressure laminated substrate with a coating which is capable of accepting sublimatable inks by means of dye sublimation.
It is known in the art to create sublimated products with radiation-cured coatings by adhering them to wood, ceramic, or metal substrates. These coatings which are typically a polyester, polyurethane or an acrylic are then susceptible to receiving designs of selected indicia transferred into them wherein the use of a sublimatable ink transfer and a heat press is designed to provide sufficient heat and pressure to make the transfer possible. However, at the temperatures normally employed in preparing the coating or in transferring the sublimatable inks to plastic substrates, plastic substrates are normally affected adversely. For example, the plastic substrates can accept these images prepared by die sublimation but are not durable and require additional protective layers after the sublimatable ink has been transferred thereon. It is known that certain plastics in film form such as MYLAR and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can accept sublimation images without a coating. However, these films are typically thin and laminated to a substrate after sublimation and are relatively expensive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a plastic substrate coated on at least one side with a radiation-cured coating capable of accepting sublimatable inks which diffuse into the radiation-cured coated layer.
It is even another object of the present invention to provide a plastic substrate having at least one side coated with a radiation-cured layer capable of withstanding the temperatures required for transferring sublimatable inks into the radiation-cured coating.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a process for making printed articles by means of die sublimation including one or more coatings prepared by radiation curing.
More particularly, the present invention is directed to a process for making a cured coated article which may be a plastic or high pressure laminate which may include a plastic, the process including coating a plastic or high pressure laminate substrate with a radiation curable top coat and then subjecting the top coat to a curing step which is either with an electron beam, ultraviolet radiation or a combination thereof. A sublimatable ink may then be transferred into the top coat.
Even more particularly, the present invention is directed to a cured coated plastic or high pressure laminate article which is comprised of a plastic or high pressure laminate substrate coated with a radiation cured coating wherein the radiation cured coating includes an outer surface susceptible to having with a sublimatable ink diffused therein. The radiation cured coating may include ultraviolet inhibitors therein.